Sverdlovsk Film Studio
NIGHT
Based on Andrey Platonov's story "The Iron Old Lady"
screenwriter Mihail Shelehov
Two-Year Advanced Studies for Screenwriters and Directors
1984 diploma work of Vladimir Petkevich (director and animator)
artistic supervisor Yuriy Norshteyn
art director Aleksandr Petrov
camera Nikolay Gribkov
sound Nadezhda Shestakova montage L. Permyakova
musical designer Margarita Kesareva (1986) composer Vyacheslav Artyomov
voiced by L. Teplova, L. Revyakina, Maksim Godovykh
script editor I. Duykova production director Valentina Hizhnyakova
Why won't you sleep?
You keep mumbling, irrepressible boy.
Sleep,
because the iron old woman roams the fields in the dark.
She searches for those who're not asleep
and leads them away.
Mom, who is she?
She's made of iron.
She frightens people and makes their...
...hearts stop.
Where does she live?
You can't see her, she lives in the dark.
In the ravines.
She gathers bones and rags.
Who is she?
Who knows, son?
You just sleep, sleep.
Don't be afraid of her.
Maybe she's nobody.
Maybe she's just a poor, little old woman.
Go on, sleep now.
She doesn't visit people's homes.
I'll lock the door.
Mom, who are you?
Who am I?
Who are you?
Let's change places.
I'll be you,
and you'll be me.
Wake up, tree!
Tell me: who is the old woman?
Leaf, do you know where the old woman lives?
Don't cry.
(...) servants of Saint Eudokia.
May my words be strong, binding, stronger than the bulat stone.
As the bulat stone (...) does not crumble,
so may my words (...) never crumble (...).
Amen, amen, amen.
Stars, look at me.
Because I'm scared to be all alone.
Maybe, people live inside the earth, too?
And they want to climb out into the light of the sun?
Perhaps (...) the three wild winds
have beset the Lord's humble servant, Eliseus?
Then I shall go to the three paths, to the three crossroads.
And upon those three paths, those three crossroads, stands (...)
(...)
Who are you?
You are the old woman?
I am the old woman.
Are you iron?
I need the one that's iron.
What do you need me for?
Tell me what is most important.
Here's a flower.
This is the most important thing.
See the lifeless sand down here?
Stone, too, neither lives nor breathes; it is lifeless dust.
But this flower is alive,
yet it made its body from lifeless dust.
So, it transforms lifeless, loose earth into a living body.
This flower is the holiest of labourers:
its work brings life from death.
Who are you? You're not the old woman?
And who are you?
Mom, who am I?
I've heard of her, but never seen her myself.
People say: she is fate, maybe,
or our grief that walks upon the earth.
When you grow up, you'll find out for yourself.
Why did you run away into the ravine?
I've been searching for you all morning.
Come on, I'll peel some potatoes for you, and fry them...
The End (c) Sverdlovsk Film Studio, 1986 Filmed on "Tasma" film stock
Subs by Niffiwan, helped by Lemicnor 2026.07 Animatsiya.net